Putting Swindon at the centre of hydrogen transport10 October 2011

Press Releases

Swindon’s role in promoting a low carbon sustainable economy was highlighted today as the town’s Mayor, Councillor Ray Ballman, made an official visit to the UK’s first open-access hydrogen vehicle refuelling station at South Marston today (10 October).

While there she also visited the Honda manufacturing facility which builds passenger cars for the UK and Europe.

The refuelling station is operated by BOC, a member of The Linde Group, a world-leading gases and engineering company. It is the UK’s first combined 350 and 700 bar hydrogen station which means it can refuel all current specification hydrogen-powered vehicles. It is available to all developers and operators of hydrogen vehicles, after registration and training from BOC.

The station is the result of a joint programme between BOC, Honda and economic development company Forward Swindon.

The Mayor commented: “This is the first commercial-scale, open access station and we are so pleased it is in Swindon. Swindon’s position on the M4 corridor makes this hydrogen station well situated. Car manufacturing is very important to Swindon and this will help build Swindon’s future economy.”

BOC’s Innovation Manager, Nick Rolf, showed the Mayor how easy the refuelling station is to operate. “For the consumer, refuelling a hydrogen-powered car will be very similar to his or her normal experience of filling a petrol or diesel vehicle – even if there is some sophisticated engineering behind it all! This station demonstrates that refuelling stations are available today to fuel the transport systems of tomorrow.”

The Chief Engineer at the Honda facility, Mike Godfrey OBE, added: “At Honda we are committed to the development of sustainable, low carbon mobility. The refuelling station is a statement of intent: hydrogen vehicles need refuelling networks and this station is a prime example of how we can build a network to meet the needs of hydrogen powered vehicles like Honda’s FCX Clarity.”